With 189 member countries, staff from more 170 countries, and offices in over 130 locations, the World Bank Group is a unique global partnership: five institutions working for sustainable solutions that reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries.

Experts And Leaders

The World Bank Group works in every major area of development. We provide a wide array of financial products and technical assistance, and we help countries share and apply innovative knowledge and solutions to the challenges they face.

Country Groups

Global data and statistics, research and publications, and topics in poverty and development

We face big challenges to help the world’s poorest people and ensure that everyone sees benefits from economic growth. Data and research help us understand these challenges and set priorities, share knowledge of what works, and measure progress.

Search

Economic activity in Myanmar has slowed in 2016-2017 with growth expected to moderate to 6.5% from 7.3% the previous year.

The government has carefully navigated a difficult economic and security environment in its first six months in office. It has taken steps to maintain fiscal prudence, which have helped ease pressure on monetary growth, and is proceeding on important financial sector and business environment reforms.

The pace of recovery in agriculture from last year’s floods was hampered by longstanding productivity constraints in the sector. Industrial output, including food processing, construction activity, and gas production has also decelerated.

Falling exports due to gas and agricultural commodities, and slowing foreign investments have contributed to growing external economic pressures.

Public investments remain constrained by a narrowing fiscal space due in part to external shocks and increased losses from state enterprises.

The public sector deficit in 2015-2016 increased to 3.2% of GDP compared to 1.1% the previous year, and is expected to grow further to 4.5% of GDP in 2016-2017. The government cut spending, while trying to maintain support to priority areas such as education and health.

Inflation in Myanmar stayed elevated throughout the first half of 2016, largely due to supply constraints linked to Cyclone Komen. Although inflation has started to abate in the second half of 2016, the total supply of money in circulation continued to grow, fueling demand pressures and underlying inflation.

Economic Outlook

Economic growth is projected to average 7.1% per year over the next three years.Private and public investments in infrastructure services (e.g. power, transportation) and non-commodity sectors (e.g. light manufacturing, hospitality) is expected to pick up subject to continued macroeconomic stability, progress on structural reforms and expansion of critical services.

Inflationary pressures are expected to ease relative to 2015-2016 due to a general slowdown in aggregate demand and efforts to reduce fiscal monetization, averaging 8.9% over the course of 2016-2017.

The current account deficit is projected to expand further over the medium-term due to a combination of slowing gas exports, slowing demand in China, and large investment-related import needs. However, strong foreign direct investment (FDI) flows are projected to remain a stable source of financing for the overall balance of payments, and its deficit should thus moderate in 2016/17.

Lack of clarity or delays in policy implementation could prolong economic downturns;

A challenging external environment may make it more difficult for Myanmar to take advantage of new export markets.

Economic Policy Priorities

An overarching priority for the new administration is to further strengthen the clarity, communication and credibility of economic policies. One option could be to develop an economic vision, and complementing this with regular reporting on near term economic policies and conditions to help anchor economic expectations and sustain investor confidence.

The Medium-Term Fiscal Framework could help set out a strategy for balancing fiscal prudence with the need to expand public services in the coming years.

Greater fiscal discipline and the expansion of the government securities’ market are expected to reduce pressures on monetary policy.

follow us

newsletter

You have clicked on a link to a page that is not part of the beta version of the new worldbank.org. Before you leave, we’d love to get your feedback on your experience while you were here. Will you take two minutes to complete a brief survey that will help us to improve our website?

Feedback Survey

Thank you for agreeing to provide feedback on the new version of worldbank.org; your response will help us to improve our website.

What was the purpose of your visit to worldbank.org today?

Did the layout and navigation of the new site help you locate what you were looking for?
Yes
No

Do you have any other feedback on the new version of our website? (Optional)

If you are willing to be contacted in the future to help us improve our website, please leave your email address below.

Which of the following best describes your career field or organization?
Student
Academic/Professor
Government Employee
Media Organization
Multilateral Organization
NGO or Nonprofit
Private Sector Firm
World Bank Group
Other

How often do you visit the World Bank website?
This is my first time
Daily
About once a week
About once a month
Every six months or less often

Thank you for participating in this survey! Your feedback is very helpful to us as we work to improve the site functionality on worldbank.org.